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Friday, September 26, 2014

Emirates Park Zoo

Karim and I first took our daughter to Emirates Park Zoo when she was just a few months old. In all the excitement of being a new mama, I wanted to show her everything! I pictured her cooing at the animals and giggling in excitement at seeing all the cute furry creatures there, but the truth of the matter was that she was really too young to appreciate any of it.

Fast forward to today, we headed there again with our now one year old (my how time flies!). Totally different experience! This time she really did giggle when she saw the monkeys and motioned that she wanted to give the zebra a "kiss". Too cute.

Emirates Park Zoo is located in the Bahia area of Abu Dhabi- it's a really great, nearby, and affordable place to head with the family over the weekend.

For a single day pass:

Adults and kids from the age of 6 years and up have to pay 25 dirhams.

Babies to 2 years get in for free.

Kids from 3 years to 5 years pay 10 dirhams.

What's really interesting about this zoo is that you get to get up close (I mean really close! As in, pet-the-nose-of-a-Giraffe-close!) to many of the animals and actually feed them. While this can be an incredible experience, I'll admit to cringing a bit when some of the overly-aggressive kids would shout at and smack the animals.

We spotted a kiosk at the entrance of the park that sold special biscuits and leaves that you could feed the animals.

Our favorite spot of course, was the monkeys. I could honestly just watch them all day, especially as there were 3 baby monkeys that were just so adorable scurrying around and being playful with one another. One of them and Nunu totally had "a moment" when they looked at each other and understood their shared "babyness" and it was awesome.

Though it's late September, I think it would be best to head there in the cooler months, especially if you've got really little ones. There are some air conditioned, indoor areas that house the aquarium and reptile section, but of course, most of the park is outdoors.

Oh and once you're done, they've got a souvenir store you can pop into to as well!

Have you checked out Emirates Park Zoo? How did you find it? Let us know in a comment below!